Monday, July 22, 2019

Book Blast: The Weapons of Light by Lairyck Beliveau - Win a $25 Gift Card



 

Inside the Book:


Title: The Weapons of Light
Author: Lairyck Beliveau
Publisher: XLibris 
Genre: Poetry
Format: Ebook

The Weapons of Light is a composition of sixteen interlocking poetic essays, five poems, and three short stories. The purpose of this book is to shed light on the condition and state of the fighting spirit within us all. This book is also a unique inspirational guide that combines poetry, spirituality, and fantasy to maintain the reader’s interest in an atmosphere of both fidelity and mysticism. The book is kept short with the rigors of daily labor in mind for those who like to read but are now unable to find time. The prerogative of any poet is to capture the times as best as they can: the feeling, the atmosphere, and the surge of human emotion. The author, Lairyck Beliveau, utilizes a method of combining poetic license and academic article writing to bring you a very deep and entertaining perspective of life and its emotional struggles

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Lairyck is giving away a $25 Gift Card!

 
Terms & Conditions:
  • By entering the giveaway, you are confirming you are at least 18 years old.
  • One winner will be chosen via Rafflecopter to receive one $25 Gift Certificate to the e-retailer of your choice
  • This giveaway begins July 15 and ends on July 26.
  • Winners will be contacted via email on July 27.
  • Winner has 48 hours to reply.
Good luck everyone!

ENTER TO WIN!

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Thursday, July 18, 2019

Q&A with 'Where To? How I Shed My Baggage and Learned to Live Free' Jennifer B. Monahan


Jennifer B. Monahan is a business strategy consultant, shaman and coach who helps people all over the world live courageous lives. Her first book, This Trip Will Change Your Life: A Shaman’s Story of Spirit Evolution (She Writes Press, 2016), has won six literary awards, including two first-place Body, Mind, Spirit Book Awards and a 2017 National Indie Excellence Award. Her second book, Where To? How I Shed My Baggage and Learned to Live Free, was published in April 2019, and describes her personal journey through Guatemala, Japan, Cambodia and Thailand as she faces down some of the greatest losses in her life.

She is a regular contributor to Medium.com, Sivana East, and has had articles published on MindBodyGreen.com and Inc.com. Her podcast, Living A Courageously Authentic Life, can be found on BlogTalkRadio.com, and focuses on a variety of topics to help others be true to themselves.

She holds a BA in Mass Communications from the University of Bridgeport (CT), an MBA in Marketing from the University of Connecticut, a Masters in Natural Health from Clayton College, and completed an accredited coaching program through Coach U. Her shamanic training began with a Mayan shaman in Mexico and then expanded to include shamans in Guatemala and her own personal guides.

She currently splits her time between the United States and Guatemala when not traveling and is in the process of writing her third book, a handbook for people looking to define, create and live their courageously authentic life. You can find her online at www.SpiritEvolution.co.

WEBSITE & SOCIAL LINKS:





Tell us about your book! What is it about and what inspired you to write it?

Being an author was never on my bucket list.  But a bad accident and three months of disability leave where I was stuck on my couch gave me the time to write my first book, This Trip Will Change Your Life. The accident also gave me a lot of time to really assess how I had been living my life, which became the starting point for my second book, Where To?.

I realized that I had been “playing it safe” with my life and my career and that I had been holding myself back from truly living the life that I wanted to live.  I vowed that I would honor my life and start living courageously and authentically…as soon as I could walk again!

It ended up taking over 14 months before I could walk without a cast, crutch or brace, but that time allowed me to really think about what it was that I wanted to create with my life. At face value, if you had looked at my life prior to the accident, you would have said that I was living a rich, interesting life and to some extent I was.  But what I wasn’t doing was following my heart, taking some risks and just living.

I took my first big risk when I published my first book.  In it I opened up and shared aspects of myself that I hadn’t really shared before.  But I knew that I needed to do more – I needed to shed the limiting beliefs and personas that I had been carrying with me for most of my life that were preventing me from being “me.” And so I decided to jump right into the deep end and walk away from all of the things that had been giving me a false sense of security about my life – my job and my home – and try living the way I wanted to live.

I had a number of people tell me that I was crazy, but even more people cheered me on and begged me to tell them what – and how – I was doing.  I had people call and email me, asking me how I was able to do what I was doing and looking for advice on how to start living their own authentic lives. It became a no-brainer to write down my experiences. Where To? tells the story of what happened to me, the lessons I learned, and the amazing adventures I had as I learned to live in a way that felt authentic and true to me.

Where To? takes place primarily in the Guatemalan jungle, but also in Japan, Cambodia and Thailand.  It tells how I lived in a thatched-roof hut in a tiny village, connected with local shamans and participated in their ancient rituals, become fully integrated into the daily life of local families, and ultimately faced down some of the greatest losses and long-buried pain I had experienced.  In the book I share the six steps I took to heal and create the life of my dreams and include a workbook for readers to do the same.

Tell us about your publishing process. What was it like? Did you go indie or the traditional way?

I decided to go the self-publishing route after a contract with a traditional publisher fell through.
Once I had finished writing and editing the book, I started to think of my options for publishing. I decided to pitch my book to smaller traditional publishers that didn’t require a literary agent. 
I enjoyed going through the thought process to create the pitch materials and found it helped me really hone in on my audience and the selling points of the book.  I sent out about a dozen pitch submissions to editors and was thrilled when one of the publishers that I was really interested in emailed me back saying they were interested in my book and wanted to review the full manuscript.
I sent it over and then waited for what felt like an eternity.  I was at my gate in the Guatemala City airport about to board my flight when I got the email back from the publisher that every author dreams of:

“I am interested in publishing this book.  After reading the first few chapters, I can tell you are a skilled writer who can communicate concepts easily in a style that keeps the reader’s attention.  If the rights are still available, I’d like to present you with a publishing proposal.”

Every person at the gate stared at me when I whooped and jumped up and down.  Of course I said yes.  And then I waited again for the proposal. Ultimately, the proposal didn’t come.  After more consideration, the publisher decided that the genre of my book was not in line with the genres that his firm published and withdrew his offer.

I was disappointed, but overall, I’d say that my experience pitching my book to traditional publishers was positive – and reaffirming given the fact that my book made it to the point of a proposal through a traditional publisher.

That feedback was what made me decide to self-publish.  I knew the book itself was solid and that it would appeal to readers. The process of self-publishing was easy; my book was available within a month of me making the decision.

How did you choose the title for your book? Did it come to you right away, before you started writing it, or did it come later?

The book title was actually the last thing that I did.  I had finished writing the book and was working with my editor for a final round of polishing before starting the publishing process.  At that point I still had a very exciting working title along the lines of “Book Two.” My editor and I began brainstorming names and she came up with Where To?. As soon as she said it, I know it was perfect.  It not only summed up the physical nomadic journey I take in the book (as in: where to next?) but was a great tie to the title of my first book as well.

Tell us about the cover design process. Did you have a basic idea of what your book cover would be like?

Once the title of the book was defined, the cover became a lot easier.  At one point I was thinking that the cover should have a taxicab on it, since “Where To?” is the first question a cabbie asks you when you get into a cab, but once the book’s tagline was defined, having luggage on the cover made more sense.

That being said, I created three versions of the cover – two with luggage and one with a woman on a journey – and posted them on social media and through my newsletter to my readers and followers and let them vote for the cover they thought was best given the description I shared.  I ended up using the cover that got the most votes.

Who is your cover designer and how did you find him/her?

I designed the cover myself, using a publicly available photo from Pixabay.com.

What has been the readers’ response to your cover?

Overall the response has been positive.  As I mentioned, giving my readers and followers the opportunity to vote gave me some insights into what appealed to them.  Plus it was a lot of fun!

Thank you, Jennifer! Be sure to check out her book below!


About the Book:

When Jennifer Monahan announced her intention to leave her well-established career as a business strategy consultant and give up her rent-controlled apartment in San Francisco to do a global walkabout for an undetermined amount of time, her friends and family thought she was insane. But
Jennifer was excited about taking the time to truly explore and immerse herself in a variety of cultures, so their skepticism didn’t faze her; plus she was used to traveling alone as a woman with only one carry-on bag. What she didn’t count on was discovering all the excess baggage she had been carrying with her from her past.

WHERE TO? chronicles one year of Monahan’s life, primarily in the Guatemalan jungle, but also in Japan, Cambodia and Thailand. Living in a thatched-roof hut in a tiny village, Monahan connected with local shamans and participated in their ancient rituals, became fully integrated into the daily life of a local family, and ultimately faced down some of the greatest losses and long-buried pain she had experienced. WHERE TO? shares the six steps she took to heal and courageously create the life of her dreams and includes a workbook for readers to do the same.

"Some memoirs tell us stories and open up worlds we never knew, but some open up places in our own hearts and souls that we have wanted to explore and have never given ourselves the chance to do so. Where To? How I Shed My Baggage and Learned to Live Free by Jennifer B. Monahan belongs to the second category of memoirs...While it reads like the memoir of a woman who takes the courage to explore the world, this memoir has powerful spiritual hints. In fact, it is the story of a soul in search of itself. Where To? is a spiritual testament, a book that describes a journey towards inner freedom and authenticity. Many readers will feel the resonance of Jennifer's story in their own lives." 

- Christian Sia, Reader's Favorite Book Reviews

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Wolves At Our Door by Soren Paul Petrek




Title: WOLVES AT OUR DOOR
Author: Soren Paul Petrek
Publisher: Editions Encre Rouge/Hachette Livre
Pages: 319
Genre: Historical/Action/Adventure



The Allies and the Nazis are in a deadly race to develop the ultimate weapon while supersonic V-2 rockets rain down on London. Madeleine Toche and Berthold Hartmann, the German super assassin who taught her to kill, search for the secret factory where Werner von Braun and his Gestapos masters use slave labor to build the weapons as the bodies of the innocent pile up. The Allied ground forces push towards Berlin while the German SS fight savagely for each inch of ground.

Finding the factory hidden beneath Mount Kohnstein, Hartmann contacts his old enemy, Winston Churchill and summons Madeleine to his side. While she moves to bring the mountain down on her enemies, Hartmann leads a daring escape from the dreaded Dora concentration camp to continue his revenge against the monsters who ruined his beloved Germany.

Together with the Russian Nachtlexen, the Night Witches, fearsome female pilots the race tightens as the United States and the Germans successfully carry out an atomic bomb test.

Germany installs an atom bomb in a V-2 pointed towards London, while the US delivers one to a forward base in the Pacific. The fate of the Second World War and the future of mankind hangs in the balance.

Read the first chapter at Booksie and don’t forget to give it a like!

 
https://amzn.to/2Z8tGOD

 

______________________






Helga Miller shut the door to her small flat in Saint-Omer. With seagulls reeling and crying in the sunny morning sky above, she felt as though she were on vacation. She loved the quaint architecture of the homes, the small shops, and the produce market. Things were scarce, but it was late summer, and the local produce was in. Fish was always available, and she had developed a fondness for it. She could smell the sea and loved the warm sand and relaxed atmosphere at the beach. It was as if there wasn’t even a war.

I’m not on holiday, she told herself, but it’s my first time out of Germany, and I’m not going to waste it. She’d wanted to help with the war effort, and now she had her chance. Even after the invasion, everyone back home still thought Germany would win—Hitler told them so, and the propaganda films left no doubt. Why wouldn’t she believe it as well?

Smaller than some of the other women she worked with, Helga prided herself on being athletic and trim. She went for long walks and did calisthenics daily. Her long hair, which she kept tucked under her hat while on duty, was dark, as was the hair of many people from Bohemia in southern Germany. She wasn’t much interested in the men she worked with. Older and serious, they paid little attention to her except to bark orders. They bored her. She liked the young soldiers stationed in the town and at her worksite. They were exciting and fun-loving, and girls like her from home were scarce.

Helga had been recruited right out of university, and while she knew that as a non-soldier, she would never be much of a threat to anyone, she was eager to work on such an important program. The big projects had political or military applications. The project she was working on combined mining and construction. It was unique.

She was on her way to La Couple, where she worked as a mining engineer. Helga knew the fighting was close, but the enemy army was still many miles away. She didn’t think about it much, but when she did, she had to admit it was a bit thrilling. Neither did she think often of the intended use of the facility once complete. At work she concentrated, paying no attention to the fact that rockets launched from there would fall on major cities—and their civilian populations. Allied bombs were falling on German cities, targeting military installations and civilians alike. She hoped the completion of the facility would stop those raids and help Germany win the war.

 Helga walked toward the train station where she would catch the short ride to her worksite. She disliked the frumpy white coveralls she wore, but they, like everything else, were mandatory. She felt as though she were dressed in a sack. How would she ever catch a man’s eye while wearing a tent?

She turned a corner and crossed over the car park toward the train station. It was a squat wooden building consisting of dirty windows, a ticket booth, toilets, and a kiosk that sold newspapers, cigarettes, and whatever sweets were available at a given time. Helga made her way over to the short line to buy a ticket for the next train. She noticed a young woman ahead of her with a mane of curly black hair cascading down the middle of her back. She didn’t have to see the woman’s face to know that she was beautiful; the way she held herself left no doubt. Oh, to have curls like hers . . . Helga fingered the correct change in her pocket and had it ready when she got to the window. She smiled at the man behind the glass. He gave her the same indifferent look he gave all the passengers, French and German alike. She was sure he’d been there before the war and would be there when it was over. His job was simple and didn’t require any conversation.

A rush of wind announced the arrival of the train. Helga moved forward onto the platform and waited for it to come to a stop. It was a tired old commuter train that had covered the same miles of track for years. With petrol scarce, people got around on foot, bicycle, or, for longer distances, train.

After waiting her turn to board, she found an empty seat in the middle of the car. Among the passengers who brushed past her was the young woman with the beautiful hair. Helga snuck a peek at her dark and angular, almost Gypsy-like, face; the lovely girl was almost certainly from the south. She watched men steal glances as she passed. She felt a twinge of jealousy. No man had ever looked at her that way; it wasn’t fair.

The train pulled out of the station and picked up speed. The windows were down, and the warm breeze carried a hint of salt from the ocean. The smell of seaweed and surf wafted through the car, carrying out cigarette smoke and lingering smells. Helga could stay in a place like this forever. With the weekend coming, she was planning to go down to the beach with another girl from work. Two days in the sun, a chance to chat with some young men, drink some local wine, have some fun. There were always young German soldiers about, on leave.

As the coastal scenery came into view, it seemed to shake from the train’s rattling. Seagulls cried down near the beach. The tide was out, revealing large expanses of sand and lowland areas. People were out digging clams and scraping mussels off the exposed rocks. The chalky cliffs were much like their counterparts on the other side of the channel in England.

No sooner did the train stop than the other passengers stood and eked out to crowd the passageway. Helga waited until the aisle was clear before she stood. As she made her way to the door, the car was empty, so it hardly stood out that the young woman was, like everyone else, gone.

Helga made her way from the train station toward the construction site. The path was a mixture of sand, gravel, and chalky white chips weathered away from the hillsides over millions of years. The path came to a wooded area. She could see other workers walking far ahead, but there was no one near her. She wasn’t in a hurry to get to work, especially on such a nice day. She’d be on time; there was no need to rush.

It was a blind corner in the path. No time to react. A dark figure slid behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder, another on her chin. With a furious jerk, the assailant broke Helga’s neck and dragged her body off the trail. The killer removed her work clothes and pulled them over her own. In less than a minute, the body was covered with grass and sticks. Unless someone from the trail was looking for Helga, she would never be seen.

The killer moved away, pulling Helga’s cap over her head, tucking in strands of curly black hair. Back on the trail, she headed toward the rear entrance of La Couple. She clipped the dead girl’s credentials to her coat pocket. She’d already observed that the guards never even checked the women coming and going from the facility. How incredibly stupid of them.

The guards at the entrance waved her through as she held out her identification. Hardly a glance in her direction. She stepped into the entrance, where, shielded from the summer sun, she was immediately cooled. Moisture clung to the walls and made the floor beneath her slippery. A sheet of water covered the tunnel, pooling in spots. This entrance mustn’t be completed yet, she thought. Touching the spongy chalk walls, she passed on into an area where concrete walls had been added and spanned in a curved ceiling overhead. The passageway was extremely wide. Wide enough to accommodate a small train. Not tall enough for a full-sized rail car, but certainly wide and high enough to transport something big.

The woman’s name was Madeleine Toche, and her inside-out knowledge of her business was nearly as legendary as her hatred of Germans. For this important operation, she needed to know what was inside so she and others could destroy it. Today was a reconnaissance mission. If an attack was ordered, it would come later.

Toche was an assassin, trained and deployed by the British Special Operations Executive, the SOE, and Prime Minister Churchill’s army of the shadows. She’d spent most of the past two years in France killing—Gestapo, SS officers, and troops. Stealth and patience were her strongest weapons. She’d often wait days in concealment, like a spider in its dark recess, until she sprung from a forgotten crack to kill, afterward slipping away. Her reputation spread far beyond Europe.

Raped at the hands of the SS after her beloved brother was killed when Germany invaded France, she’d vowed revenge. With the help of her father, she killed her assailant and escaped to England through Spain. Her young life had been a whirlwind of training with the British SOE and preparing for war.

A German Jew, a hero of the German army in the First War, trained her. His hatred of the Nazis for killing his wife and daughters propelled him down a road of destruction that made Madeleine’s pale by comparison. Those Jews that knew of him considered him a Gollum. A creature sent by God to kill the enemies of the Jewish people. A monster devoid of mercy. An instrument of unspeakable cruelty. Hatred lain bare.

Passageways led off the main corridor she was in, and down which she continued toward the cavernous space under the dome. Oily dust hung in the air. While the chalk was caked and fragile, the hum of diesel machinery and poor ventilation created a haze inside the tunnels. The place was light on security; if there were any other guards, she couldn’t see them. Electric bulbs strung overhead created a misty effect. She was happy with the additional cover.

The tunnel was a hive of activity. With tight schedules to keep, the workers inside remained intent on their tasks, often walking right past her without a glance or a greeting. No one would notice her in here. She stepped aside to allow a group of workers to go by.

The sound of nonstop drilling shook the structure. She walked past workshops and storage areas, all linked by railroad tracks that headed down toward a massive central hall looming ahead. Inside, it was brightly lit and crisscrossed with construction scaffolding.

She walked out into the space underneath the dome, towering seven stories above her. Full-sized train tracks led out of the cavern into a corridor much larger than the one she had just walked through. Machinery was being attached to walls in the middle of the structure beneath the dome. She could identify winches and tracks to move something horizontally above the tracks. But what in the world was this?

She left the dome area to inspect the remainder of the construction. As she passed one of the rooms, she noticed that the ceiling was much higher than the others. At least twice as tall. She paused and walked inside. Workers measured the floor, marking it at intervals to accommodate another set of tracks. A man looked up with a quizzical expression and then motioned her over. She would answer none of his questions; she promised herself as she pointed to her watch and shook her head. When he started in her direction, she turned and walked out of the room. He followed.

Madeleine picked up her pace and started back down the tunnel in the direction from which she had come. She ducked into a dark hallway leading off the main corridor. She flattened her back against the wall, hiding on the fringe of the light spilling in from the hallway. The man hurried in her direction. Just a little closer, she thought. He couldn’t see her in the dark. Once he was near, she darted out, ramming a fountain pen into his ear, pushing it in with the palm of her hand. His knees buckled, and he fell forward onto his face, crashing to the floor. Setting her clipboard down, she dragged his body further into the dark. And though his legs jiggled, she knew he’d been dead before he hit the ground. Finding a bin partially filled with rock, Madeleine pulled his body behind it. Turning, she picked up her clipboard and walked out into the main passageway. She had seen enough. Time to leave.

She walked toward the entrance she had come through, knowing she needed to be gone before they discovered the body. After all the missions she’d completed, and blood that had stained her hands, to get caught on a reconnaissance mission would be stupid. She knew she would find Jack at the top of the hill overlooking the compound. Just make it to the trees, and you’re home free. This is routine. Shoot your way out, but only if you have to.

Madeleine hurried to join a small group of workers leaving the facility. Neither guard at the entrance gave her any notice until she walked past them. Madeleine made sure to smile at the young guards. They couldn’t help but smile back. Just don’t speak to me in German, she thought, touching the pistol in her pocket. It had become almost involuntary. A reassurance that it was there if she needed it. She could feel their eyes on her body. The bulky uniform couldn’t hide everything. And the more they concentrated on her looks, the less they would think about security; it had worked in the past. The Germans just didn’t see women as threats. They’d think differently if they knew she had a five-million-Francs bounty on her head.

Walking out of the guards’ line of sight, Madeleine stepped off the path. She pulled off the white smock and hat and shook out her hair. She tossed the clothes further into the woods and then covered them with small branches. Soon she relaxed, the adrenaline in her body subsiding. She had much to tell her superiors about this successful mission. She couldn’t wait to reach the top of the hill and see Jack, her husband.



























 







Soren Petrek is a practicing criminal trial attorney, admitted to the Minnesota Bar in 1991.  Married with two adult children, Soren continues to live and work in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Educated in the U.S., England and France Soren sat his O-level examinations at the Heathland School in Hounslow, London in 1981.  His undergraduate degree in Forestry is from the University of Minnesota, 1986.  His law degree is from William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota 1991.

Soren’s novel, Cold Lonely Courage won Fade In Magazine’s 2009 Award for Fiction.  Fade In was voted the nation’s favorite movie magazine by the Washington Post and the L.A. Times in 2011 and 2012.

The French edition of Cold Lonely Courage, Courage was published January 2019, by Encre Rouge Editions, distributed by Hachette Livre in 60 countries.  Soren’s contemporary novel, Tim will be released along with the rest of the books in the Madeleine Toche series of historical thrillers.

His latest book is the historical action adventure novel, Wolves at Our Door.



Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/soren.petrek

GIVEAWAY!


Soren Paul Petrek is giving away 15 Amazon Kindle copies!

Terms & Conditions:
  • By entering the giveaway, you are confirming you are at least 18 years old.
  • Fifteen winners will be chosen via Rafflecopter to receive an e-copy of Wolves At Our Door!
  • This giveaway ends midnight September 27.
  • Winner will be contacted via email on September 28.
  • Winner has 48 hours to reply.
Good luck everyone!

ENTER TO WIN!



http://www.pumpupyourbook.com
 

Wednesday, July 17, 2019

Book Blast: The Apocalypse Revisited by Dr. Reginald O. Crosley - Win a $25 Gift Card






Title: The Apocalypse Revisited
Author: Dr. Reginald O. Crosley
Publisher: XLibris
Genre: Poetry
Format: Ebook


After two thousand years of history in which we have faithfully expected the Second Coming of Christ, we have met with recurrent disappointments. Why is that? At the beginning of the end of the ages that is the first century of the Christian era, the apostles and the early Christians were living with the expectation of an imminent return of Christ. Jesus himself was expecting a quick return, but the Father had a different planning. At the end of the first century, the Father revealed to John the content of a scroll with Seven Seals. That scroll outlined the main events that will occur in every century of the Christian era. A thorough review of the manifestations of the Seven Seals in every century is exposed in my book. We also call attention to God’s judgments upon the whole creation in the visible and the invisible worlds. The Apocalypse Revisited introduces us to two realms of reality . It is written to make the symbols , the visions, the personalities and the time-table of historic events accessible to the readers. We should no longer establish dates for events that are kept secret by the Creator . Also some events described in the Apocalypse are already occurring in history. The very end of the cosmos and the earth is not around the corner. It is in the future probably after a thousand year following Armageddon.

PURCHASE HERE




GIVEAWAY

DR. REGINALD IS GIVING AWAY A $25 GIFT CARD!

  
Terms & Conditions:
  • By entering the giveaway, you are confirming you are at least 18 years old.
  • One winner will be chosen via Rafflecopter to receive one $25 Gift Certificate to the e-retailer of your choice
  • This giveaway begins July 15 and ends on July 26.
  • Winners will be contacted via email on July 27.
  • Winner has 48 hours to reply.
Good luck everyone! 

ENTER TO WIN!

a Rafflecopter giveaway